Alkene hydrosilylation is a large-scale process that typically uses precious-metal catalysts. A new generation of highly selective catalysts is based on inexpensive metals, which may have a high-spin electronic configuration and thus may follow novel mechanistic pathways. Here, we describe mechanistic studies on a high-spin cobalt(I) catalyst that performs rapid and regioselective alkene hydrosilylation. Using 1-hexene and PhSiH 3 as substrates, we elucidate features of the rate law, test for free radical intermediates with radical clock substrates, and use deuterium substitution to provide mechanistic insight. The resting state has PhSiH 3 bound η 6 through the phenyl group and evolves over the course of the reaction from a substrate-bound form to a product-bound form. This complicates analysis by variable time normalization analysis (VTNA) because the dependence of the rate on [PhSiH 3 ] is not constant throughout the reaction. Despite this challenge, the accumulated results are consistent with initial oxidative addition of PhSiH 3 , followed by alkene binding, and then insertion through the Chalk−Harrod or modified Chalk− Harrod mechanism to form the hydrosilylation product. Though the catalyst has a paramagnetic metal center, none of the data implicate radicals participating in the mechanism, and a conventional electron-pair mechanism is most consistent.